HELP! Rescued a very neglected panther gecko....

J

joseeandvince

New member
Hi there,

First post. Thank you for reading.
I will start from the beginning. I am knowledgeable in the leopard gecko department, have had mine for 11 years and he is thriving.

Last weekend, a family member called me and asked me to take their panther (pictus/ocelot) gecko. I was not aware they had a gecko, but they have had him for over 2 years. When I saw a picture, I immediately decided to take it in as I do not believe it would have survived for much longer. Here's why:

-It's tail has NO fat whatsoever; its legs are so skinny that I am afraid they might simply snap;
-It has had NO heat for the entire duration of its life;
-It has had a regular light bulb shining light on it 24/7 for the entire duration of its life; and
-They fed it sporadically, and could not tell me how much it ate or at what intervals.

That being said, I brought him home last night. The first thing I did was install a small under tank heater to provide it with heat but not too much at first to avoid shock, as it was most likely stressed from the move and it has never had a heat source.

I cleaned up the tank of excrements (it's currently sand, but I covered half the tank with paper towel and plan to slowly transition to repti-carpet), added a humidity hide to keep the tank's moisture level at 60%, gave it fresh water which it drank ALOT of, and fed it 3 mealworms. I turned off his "light" for the night to give him darkness.

Today, I turned his "light" back on and will be switching to a 50W basking light (10 gallon tank) tomorrow. Baby steps as I do not want to shock him too much, too soon. I came to turn off his light for the night and found that he regurgitated the mealworms and pooped a little bit, but it was red.

I'm worried. I need help and opinions here to see what I can do to try and save this little guy. I will be buying pin head crickets tomorrow, dust them with calcium powder and see if that helps.

Any help is appreciated!!! Thank you!
 
Aimless

Aimless

Super Moderator
it sounds like you're really on the right track here. potential blood in his poop is pretty disconcerting, though. did it look like blood, or just seem red? who knows what he's been eating?

hmm..he drank "a lot" of water and then ate. I would think this is like a starving person and that his stomach isn't able to take in very much at one time. his digestion is probably slow and maybe not complete, as I can only assume his flora are probably not balanced well. I would offer very tiny meals, very slowly.


I think the crickets are a good idea. mealworms can be notoriously hard to digest, so definitely softer will be better til his guts are used to working again. he may not be able to hunt. perhaps offer on tongs or pull the legs and put them in a little shallow dish? you might also hold off at least a 1/2-day and gutload the crickets, although I can understand your desire to get some nutrition in him.

do you have access to any of the smaller softer worms? I'm thinking of small silkworms, or some butter worms would be a great way to give him a little calorie boost in a way that's easier to digest?

also, perhaps consider brief soaks for hydration? this can be stressful for the gecko, but as they can take water through their vent it might be a little easier for him to absorb it.
 
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J

joseeandvince

New member
Thank you very much for replying!

I've gone out and purchased a vitamin supplement and have decided to make a mealworm "paste" with a tiny bit of vitamin supplement and put it on his nose for him to lick off. I've done this twice today, very small amounts, and both times he has licked it off. Fingers crossed that he keeps this up!
I will be changing him to all paper towels tomorrow, and fixing a thermostat to the UTH to make it a constant 85F.

The color of his poop was red. It didn't look bloody, just red. I'm not sure if this is normal and he hasn't pooped again since.

He looks and seems weaker today than he did yesterday. I'm really hoping that he pulls through. I've also been told that I do not need a basking light AND an UTH. Is this correct?

Again - thank you for the tips! I will def try to bathe him to get some water into his system.
 
Aimless

Aimless

Super Moderator
hmm..it depends on whether you can hold the proper temperature. there are several ways to set up a gecko, but I always like belly AND basking heat when it can be achieved. sometimes the surface temp from the UTH really just warms their toes but doesn't make the ambient air itself warm enough, you know? you'll have to experiment and see what works.
*edit: for nocturnal animals, a low- watt CHE is great 24/7 to give a bit of an ambient temp boost without blasting your gecko (and your electricity bill) with 200W of heat. they come in 25W and 30W increments that are nice for a small temp boost.

that's a bummer that he seems weaker. sometimes geckos in hard shape will get worse before they get better; treatment is necessary but will also cause stress. I hope it won't be too much for him to take.

if you're going to make bug paste, you might try crickets, too, once you have them. mealworms are nice and fatty, but even ground up the shell components are hard to digest. I'm worried about the function of your little guy's gut.

I wonder if they were feeding him colored pellets or something?
 
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J

joseeandvince

New member
I think for right now, I'll leave it the way I have it - the UTH set for 85F, and the 50w basking light during the day. Will switch for a red infrared 60W for the overnights.

The mealworm paste worked well twice last night at 2.5 hour intervals - I don't use the mealworm casing, just the "guts" and make that with a bit of demineralized water and a tiny bit of multivitamin. He took it twice, but now this morning, he won't even lick off the drop of water I put on his nose. :(

I bought extra small crickets and will try the paste option with them. I've got a friend stopping by the pet store today to bring me waxworms and/or butterworms to see if that might entice him.

Sigh. I'm not sure what they were feeding him, but it wasn't anything good/consistent.
 
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